Wednesday, November 7, 2018

Today we did a pop up art event at our local polling place. We participated in #PartyatthePolls! It was fun! Until there were no ballots for people to cast their votes....for hours!Our challenge was the rules against electioneering within 50ft of the poll. I don't think that was what we were doing but the rule caused us to not have access to the voters as they waited to vote.

I heard about #PartyatthePolls on social media. #PartyAtThePolls,
is a nationwide initiative for artists to help make voting fun by offering
opportunities for voters to be creative and experience creativity before-during-after they cast their ballots. This National event looked like an awesome opportunity to engage with our super local residents.

Goals: Most importantly to increase the profile and conversation
around art-poetry and creativity in South County and to share through
social media in the National conversation.

We are 4 South
PG County creatives, artists Caryl Henry and John Lee Ranta and poets
Jesse Alexander and Hiram Larew with a special guest poet Rocky Jones
from Annapolis!

The poets read poems, folks wrote about why they vote
and Lee and I concentrated on conversations with voters on their way into the poll and taking celebratory selfies with them as they left. Interesting conversation were had, we met new artists that we had not known.

Most folks just wanted to vote and go home-we had a good time-learned a lot and definitely lifted up the visibility of artists in our area! Thanks to the artists and poets and our community for participating!

Followers

To teach is to learn twice

Visual artist, Social Justice activist, educator and traveler,
UU.
For 25 years I have offered visual arts projects in communities with a focus on creative literacy, community collaboration and arts integrated curriculum. Our projects have been successful in schools with grades 3-12 and with multi generational, multicultural and interfaith communities in diverse settings.